Solicitors telegraphic transfer fee

wizzywilc

I am dealing with the sale of a property, and the solicitor is proposing to charge almost £300 including VAT to transfer the proceeds of c £850 k. It's a small sum of money in the overall scheme of things, but I am selling as the executor of an estate and have a duty to the beneficiaries to make sure fees are reasonable.

I appreciate that there are fees involved for the secure transfer of funds, but this seems excessive. Previous posts on this issue are all quite old. Can anyone advise, please.

babyblade41

I'm not a solicitor but isn't it the banks who charge and it's that that has to be paid
My last electronic transfer with my solicitor cost 40.00

Browntoa

Solicitor should supply you with a list of their standard charges .

Is that on there ?

davidmcn

You haven't told us how many payments or how they're split up, but presumably at least some of them are within Faster Payment limits and don't need to go by CHAPS? In practice most of this cost is the solicitor's admin charge for doing a bank transfer rather than their bank's own fee (though that obviously has to be covered too).

AdrianC

Wouldn't a more appropriate time to decide if a solicitor's scale of charges are reasonable be before appointing them?

But, yes, £300 does sound high.

OTOH, £300 less VAT is £250. £40ish for CHAPS fee. So that's just over £210 for their time in ensuring the recipient is bob-on, and for indemnifying any problems in the transfer. Legal time is rarely cheap...

enthusiasticsaver

If it is just one telegraphic transfer fee then yes £300 is high. If the money has to go to various people and there is anything legal to check when the money comes in then maybe not. You need a breakdown of what the £300 is for because I am pretty sure it is not just one bank transfer fee.

TBagpuss

How does it break down? If this is for multiple payments then there is a charge per payment.
If you don't want to pay, ask for the money to be sent by BACS instead. It will take longer to clear but is less expensive.

Tom99

£300 is a ridiculous sum. I paid £40+VAT for a £800,000 CHAPs.
The bank will charge the solicitor say £25.

Thrugelmir

Tom99 wrote: »

£300 is a ridiculous sum. I paid £40+VAT for a £800,000 CHAPs.
The bank will charge the solicitor say £25.

OP refers to beneficiaries. Unclear therefore how much work is involved along with the third part disbursements that will be incurred.

davidmcn

Tom99 wrote: »

£300 is a ridiculous sum. I paid £40+VAT for a £800,000 CHAPs.
The bank will charge the solicitor say £25.

As I alluded to above, I assume this is a bunch of transfers and not just one. It would of course be an absurd charge for one payment.

Tom99

davidmcn wrote: »

As I alluded to above, I assume this is a bunch of transfers and not just one. It would of course be an absurd charge for one payment.

Yes you could get 6x CHAPs at £48 = £288
I paid 1x CHAPS at £48 plus 5 x cheque from my bank at £0 = £48
Or OP could do 1x CHAPs are £48 plus 5 x CHAPs from own bank at say £25 = £173